I recently was in Georgia on a wine-tour in combination with EWBC. Now Georgia also poses lots of interesting archaeological finds and some of the oldest that can be connected to wine and wine producing.

We visited the Georgian National Museums archaeological exhibit and also got to see some finds that as yet has not reached the exhibit. If you go to Georgia this is a museum not to miss, lots of nice and interesting finds that shows both relations to West Europe, the Middle East and Asia – there’s really no question that you are on the Silk road.

Most of these finds are found in graves and there are several fantastic gold and silver artifacts. The exhibition represent the history of Georgian gold smithery from the 3rd millennium B.C. To the 4th century A.D. So lets get ready for some archeo- artifact – pornography!…

Bus from Didube Metro Station to Kazbegi for 10 lari. The weather rolled in and it started to snow. Visibility was less than 50m. The windows fogged up. We went over a mountain pass. The roads were narrow. Beyond the road’s wooden palings were steep drops to the gorges below. We bumped along. The fences were replaced by head-height snow drifts. Two and a half hours after leaving Tbilisi we descended into Kazbegi (Stephansminda). Kazbegi is known for its skiing, its icecapped volcano and a 14th century monastery. It is home to an alpine ecology research institute. It is also right near the Russian border. We stayed at a guesthouse run by an old friendly lady. There was a picture of Stalin on the wall and a Russian army coat with polished buttons. There were no cafes or restaurants open because it was out of tourist season. A neighbour cooked us soups and stews with fried potatoes, fresh bread and cheese in a small room heated by a stove. Spanish tele-novellas dubbed in Georgian played constantly on the television. Outside chickens of Easter Show prize-winning standards scratched in the mud, dogs and cats bolted at the first sign of human movement and unpolled cattle roamed in the streets.

I enjoy eavesdropping in Prospero’s.
“Her three favourite foods are crunchy peanut butter, smooth peanut butter and peanut butter with apple. So what can we do to get good quality cheap peanut butter on the streets?”

Lemonade made of pears…

An example of some of the shiny new architecture in Tbilisi

Jazz at the Kala bar
We were treated to the legendary vocals of Georgia’s leading female jazz vocalist and Malta’s upcoming Eurovision representative.